Terry Hancock wrote: > On Wednesday 25 May 2005 08:27 am, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >>Is there an impact analysis tool out there that can cross reference >>python -- VB has a couple of these tools (eg. Visual Expert) > > I could be wrong, but my first impression is that that must be > VB jargon for something we might know under another name.
Yep, I think we know it as 'unit testing'. From the Visual Expert site (http://visual-expert.com), impact analysis refers to taking a given variable or function name, and finding everywhere in the project where that name is referenced, for the purpose of determining what bad things will happen when that variable or function is changed somehow. The tool won't tell you what bad things will happen, just list other code segments that depend on the name in question. While such a tool may indeed be helpful in quickly understanding a project, and there may indeed be such a tool for Python, I think that most Pythonistas would find unit testing has a better impact on developer productivity, for the common case of wanting to make a change and also fix any dependent structures: just do it and then discover/fix any repercussions! -- pkm ~ http://paulmcnett.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
